U.S. and World

Half of millennials more likely to lean Democratic, poll finds

Washington — Most of America's young adults are single, don't go to church and while half say they have no loyalty to a political party, when pushed they tend to swing further left politically than those before them.

A new Pew Research Center survey out Friday showed that half of America's young adults, ages 18 to 33, consider themselves political independents, identifying with neither party. But asked which way they lean politically, half of the so-called millennials say they lean toward the Democratic Party, the highest share for any age group over the last decade.

In addition, young adults seem to be turning away from their predecessors' proclivity for religion and marriage. Almost two-thirds don't classify themselves as "a religious person." And when it comes to tying the knot: Only about 1 in 4 millennials is married. Almost half of baby boomers were married at that age.

The new survey shows how the millennial adults are "forging a distinctive path into adulthood," said Paul Taylor, Pew's executive vice president and co-author of the report.

This can especially be seen when it comes to politics. Only 27% said they consider themselves Democrats and 17% said Republicans. The half of millennials who say they are independent is an increase from 38% back in 2004.

"It's not that they don't have strong opinions, political opinions, they do," Taylor said. "It's simply that they choose not to identify themselves with either political party."

The number of self-described independents is lower among their predecessors. Only 39% of those in Generation X said they were independents, along with 37% of the boomers and 32% of the Silent Generation.

Pew describes Gen Xers as those from age 34-49, boomers as 50-68 and the Silent Generation as those 69-86.

When the self-identified Democratic millennials are combined with the self-described independents who lean Democratic, half — 50% — of the millennials are Democrats or Democratic-leaning while 34% are Republicans or Republican-leaning.

"They don't choose to identify, but they have strong views and their views are views that most people conventionally associate with the Democratic Party," Taylor said. "They believe in a big activist government on some of the social issues of the day — gay marriage, marijuana legalization, immigration. Their views are much more aligned with the Democratic Party."

Taylor said they don't know whether millennial voting trends will stay the same as they get older.

"People can change over the course of their lifetimes," he said. "At the same time, the behaviors, attitudes, the voting patterns and experiences that generations sort of encounter as they come of age in their late teens and early 20s are important."

Millennials also haven't bought into the idea that they should go to church or get married early.

Only 36% of the millennials said the phrase "a religious person" described them very well, compared with 52% of the Gen Xers, 55% of the baby boomers and 61% of the Silent Generation. And they're significantly less religious than their immediately predecessors, the Gen Xers. When they were the same age, almost half of the Gen Xers — 47% — identified themselves as religious.

The 64% of the millennials who say that they are not religious "is the highest for any age group we've ever measured," Taylor said.

The millennials were far less inclined toward marriage than the groups that preceded them. Only 26% of the millennial adults are married. When they were the same age, 36% of the Gen Xers, 48% of baby boomers and 65% of the Silent Generation were married.

The report also found:

■ 68% of young adults favor allowing gay marriage, compared with 55% of the Gen Xers, 48% of the boomers and 38% of those in the Silent Majority.

■ The support for legalizing marijuana at 68% for millennials. The next highest percentage was the Gen Xers at 53% and the boomers at 52%.

■ A majority of the millennials — 55% — say people living in the United States illegally should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship.

The Pew study was based on interviews with 1,821 adults by cellphone or landline from Feb. 14-23. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.